(Mostly) Political One-Liners: Arizona 8 Special, Ryan’s Exit, and NFL Fashion
April 12, 2018 · 3:00 PM EDT
by Nathan L. Gonzales and Leah Askarinam
Arizona’s 8th District Special (a): Welcome to the big leagues, Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, who we’re learning hasn’t treated patients since 2011 and settled a malpractice lawsuit.
Arizona’s 8th District Special (b): Nathan told The Arizona Republic that “under normal conditions you would have to say that Republicans would hold the seat, but I’m not sure these are normal conditions.”
Baby Alert: Lynn Sweet at the Chicago Sun Times notes that while Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois is the first Senator to give birth while serving in office, nine women in the House of Representatives have as well, including now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
Baseball movies: It’s still hard to believe Aaron Sorkin made Moneyball into a watchable movie.
Colorado Governor: Faulty signatures is a bipartisan problem as Republican Walker Stapleton found his own petitions to be problematic and now must make the primary ballot by exceeding the 30 percent threshold at the party assembly on Saturday, but he’s not the only credible Republican in the race.
Florida Senate (a): The argument that a successful campaign operation is in and of itself a qualification for office started with John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign, according to a passage from John Dickerson’s Whistlestop, which would be a bad sign for Rick Scott given the technical difficulties of his Facebook Live announcement Monday morning.
Florida Senate (b): “If Democrats lose in Florida, it puts pressure on the party to win in much more Republican territory—in states such as Texas or Tennessee or Nebraska,” Nathan said in the New York Times on Tuesday.
Florida’s 15th District: GOP Rep. Dennis Ross’s retirement would have been a surprise if not for Speaker Paul Ryan’s announcement, but his open seat remains Solid Republican as the new candidate fields start to take shape.
Florida’s 27th District: Democratic state Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez ended his congressional bid on Wednesday, likely with the entry of former Health & Human Services Director Donna Shalala, which means Democrats’ only Hispanic candidate was forced out of a race for a non-Hispanic candidate in a Hispanic majority district.
GOP Leadership Ladder: All of the initial attention was on Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (who just withdrew) battling to succeed Paul Ryan, but a dark horse candidate might be Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, former NRCC Chairman, who could emerge as an acceptable option if the main contenders get too personal.
Indiana Senate: Former GOP state Rep. Mike Braun will air a television ad during Roseanne, which tells you almost everything you need to know about the message of his Senate campaign and state of the Republican Party today.
Kentucky’s 6th District: New polling for Lexington Mayor Jim Gray had him leading retired fighter pilot Amy McGrath 52%-19% in the May 22 Democratic primary, which makes you wonder how many candidates with national profiles will end up making it through primary, let alone general elections.
Missouri Senate: It’s a big deal for a leading Senate candidate/state attorney general to call on the governor of his own party to resign, but after reading the disturbing report about GOP Gov. Eric Greitens, what other option could Josh Hawley possibly have?
NFL Fashion (a): Why do the ‘Color Rush’ jerseys have to be worn with matching pants, socks, shoes, cleats, when the same jerseys could be worn with regular pants and the sales and marketing team could achieve their goal?
NFL Fashion (b): The Curious George series featured the original Color Rush, considering Ted Shackleford, a.k.a The Man with the Yellow Hat, inexplicably also wore a yellow shirt and yellow pants.
North Dakota’s At-Large District: GOP state Sen. Tom Campbell switched from the Senate race to the House race when Rep. Kevin Cramer announced his challenge to Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, and now Campbell has left the House race, leaving state Sen. Kelly Armstrong as the likely GOP nominee.
Pennsylvania’s 6th District. Seems like most of the people criticizing GOP Rep. Ryan Costello for not running for re-election in a newly-drawn seat that Hillary Clinton won by 10 points either represent districts that President Donald Trump carried easily or aren’t candidates at all.
Wisconsin’s 1st District (a): Nathan told the Washington Post’s Paul Kane that he wasn’t convinced that Randy Bryce, a.k.a. Ironstache, was running a great campaign before Speaker Paul Ryan announced his retirement, considering a 50 percent burn rate last year and not taking care of child support payments before the campaign.
Wisconsin’s 1st District (b): Paul Ryan’s exit creates an open seat in a GOP-leaning district, but Bryce starts the new race with a multi-million dollar advantage over any Republicans and the rating shifted from Solid Republican to Lean Republican.
Zuckerberg Fashion: Wearing a suit and tie to Capitol Hill was probably the right decision for Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, but why the generic white shirt and blue solid tie?